Research Says
Welcome to Furniture/Today’s Research blog. Each week we\'ll take a look at interesting research data related to the home furnishings industry. Our focus for the week may come from research we have conducted ourselves or it might be something we’ve come across and just want to share. We hope you’ll use this space too, to share your thoughts or to weigh in with what you think about the topic under discussion. Three members of Furniture/Today’s Research team, Research Manager Dana French and Research Specialists Judi Fulbright and Daphne Garland-McLean, will be sharing this forum, each bringing our own unique perspective. We look forward to hearing from you!
More on upholstery and price points
After the appearance of the Upholstery Fabric & Style Survey in the October 5 issue, Furniture/Today’s research team fielded a call from a supplier who wanted to know the overall breakdown of upholstery unit market share by price point. Since we had not previously calculated those statistics, we quickly derived them and sent them along to the supplier as requested. In all fairness we th ...... Read More
Comments (0)By the numbers: the Internet
1979: Online shopping is invented in the UK by Michael Aldrich 1994: JCPenney goes online 1995: Amazon.com debuts 2000: The dot com investment bust $25.8 billion: Total e-commerce retail sales in 2000 2001: Amazon.com reports its first-ever profit in the 4th quarter 2002: eBay acquires PayPal 2002: CSN Stores is founded $45.5 billion: Total e-commerce retail sales in 2002, an increase of ...... Read More
Comments (0)What’s your holiday season forecast?
Unemployment levels - currently at 9.8% - restricted credit availability and the uncertainty over job security and income are all factors that will have consumers treading lightly with regards to spending this holiday season. And though, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, declared last month that the recession is very likely over, he did caution that the economy will still feel weak for some ...... Read More
Comments (2)It’s a Contemporary world – styles and stationary sofas
Stationary sofas are the bread and butter of upholstered furniture sales. So what’s the most popular style for stationary sofas? Furniture/Today asked just that question in its exclusive Upholstery Fabric & Style Survey, 2009. Answers came from more than 400 retail furniture store fronts. It seems that Contemporary is lord of the manor. More than one-half or 53% of stationary sofa un ...... Read More
Comments (1)A consumer’s view of RTA
Nearly nine out of ten consumers have bought furniture they assembled themselves at some point. And, 82% of those consumers have been satisfied, with 80% stating they would buy RTA again. That’s the word from nearly 5,000 consumers answering Furniture/Today and HGTV’s exclusive 2009 Consumer Views Survey. There’s no question RTA furniture sells. Take Wal-Mart, the No. 1 furnit ...... Read More
Comments (2)Merchandise matters
Furniture/Today, through its annual Furniture Store Performance Report (FSPR) survey, has been striving for nearly two decades to offer furniture stores a set of benchmarks to measure their own store’s performance up against. Data on furniture stores’ merchandise mix printed in last week’s issue, September 14. A free download of this report is available for the 30 days; click ...... Read More
Comments (0)An anniversary
This week marks my 10-year anniversary with Furniture/Today. And even though that’s a mere drop in the bucket for many FT staffers, it’s one I’m proud of. I grew up in a furniture store. My father was a sales manager, designer and later owner of Butler Furniture Company in Huntington, W. Va., from the 1960’s to 1990’s. While my Dad is now retired and the store ha ...... Read More
Comments (0)Home sales increase optimism
Though overall consumer spending is still lagging, the recent reports of increased home sales are giving economic analysts reason to breathe a sigh of relief. After months of reporting and forecasting depressing housing news, home sales seem to be taking a turn for the better. According to the Department of Commerce, sales of new single-family homes were up 9.6% in July to 433,000 units from June& ...... Read More
Comments (0)How does your store stack up?
For nearly two decades, Furniture/Today has been tracking furniture stores’ operations and merchandise mix to create a yardstick that furniture stores can use to measure their own store’s performance up against. This year we’ve divided the data into two separate reports, the first on store operations printed in this week’s issue, and the second on merchandise mix, ...... Read More
Comments (0)Retail giants
The Top 25 U.S. furniture and bedding retailers sold $24.4 billion worth of furniture and bedding in 2008, down 6.4% from 2007 sales. As a group, the Top 25 sold through 16,219 stores last year, with many also selling online and via catalogs. Furniture/Today’s annual ranking of the Top 25 furniture and bedding retailers published this week in the August 24, 2009, issue. Furniture/Today ...... Read More
Comments (0)The five-step advantage
With consumers’ discretionary income seriously impacted by a myriad of factors, including adjustable rate mortgage rate resets, unstable home equity and credit card payment increases, many retailers are being forced to adjust their marketing strategies for today’s consumer. According to Discover Financial Services, the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor fell again in July to 83.5 from Ju ...... Read More
Comments (2)Is it a recovery yet?
While there’s not a crystal ball available to forecast exactly when the economic downturn will end, Kiplinger.com recently published their Recovery Index composed of six key economic indicators. When three of the six indicators have positive results, then the likelihood of an emerging economic recovery becomes stronger. The key indicators include: Interest-rate spread, a reflection of lendi ...... Read More
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